Ups and Downs of Life

Yesterday was not a good day. Elinor was unusually fussy. She was so tired but refused to take a nap. I finally got her to fall asleep in her swing at about 5:00 pm. She slept just long enough for me to take a much needed shower--much needed both for cleanliness and sanity. As soon as I was out of the shower, Elinor was screaming bloody murder. Finally Brad came home when I was at about at the end of my rope. And then it happened. Something that made my awful day worth it--Elinor laughed! She laughed! Brad was playing with her and she let out the cutest giggle. I kept missing it, but the third time, I caught it. She has a very cute laugh. She had been trying to laugh for a few weeks now, but had only been able to let out a squeal here or a squawk there. Of course I whipped out the video camera faster than you can say "action" and of course as soon as I pointed that interesting looking silver thing at her she was much too interested in it to keep laughing with Daddy. Of course. But today--success! We caught some of her hidden giggles on the camera! Check out her blog for the video. In the last week she has really started interacting with the world and with us. She smiles all the time. She reaches for toys. She plays with her new toys (that I have named Ellie and Peabody, but Brad says that it was not democratic, so we may be having a re-naming party). It is so fun to watch how different Elinor is day to day. It is amazing how whenever I am having a hard day, Elinor will do something cute and wonderful that makes everything worth it. I love being a mom!

Movie Review: National Treasure 2

Greetings all. Tonight we got to leave Elinor with Grandpa Coe while we went to see our first movie in a very long time. National Treasure 2 was the pick of the evening and it was pretty good.

I went in with pretty low expectations. Since National Treasure is one of my favorite movies, I had to at least see it. I give it a 4 of 5. It had lots of cool historical events and national landmarks, just like the first one. It had fewer corny lines than the first one. It was painfully predictable, as Disney sequels usually are, but it was still quite entertaining. The plot was much more shallow. All together, I'd say it is worth seeing and I plan to buy the DVD. Just remember it is a sequel.

a full house beats a two of a kind...

So we are here in Henderson at my parent's house for Christmas. All my siblings and my nieces and nephews came. It's been a couple years since we have all been together. Now I love my parents' house-it is a big house that my dad built-but 16 people in one house is a lot! (especially when 5 of those are 3 and under). The rooms quickly grew smaller as all the pack-n-plays, swings, and bouncy chairs got pulled out. We have diapers everywhere. When one baby finally gets to sleep, one of the other two start up. It has been a ton of fun to have everyone together (and we got some really cute pictures of the grandbabes), but I am ready for my nice quiet apartments where Elinor can get back onto her beautiful sleeping schedule. I've gotten used to sleeping all night! I will definitely miss Port of Subs, though. Only two months until I can have it again when we come back for Toni's baby shower!

A Man's Day

Today is what I call "A Man's Day."

Alicia and Elinor drove to Las Vegas for Christmas while I was at work. I don't usually make very exciting plans when I have the day to myself, and today was no exception. A Man's Day is the line that divides freedom from bondage - you can do whatever the heck you want to, but you don't know what the heck to do so you do lame stuff. You all know what I'm talking about. In the not-winter I'll go mountain biking or wash the cars on a man's day, but winter kills it.

From work I
1. got the most ghetto Chinese take-out I know of,
2. got an action movie from the Redbox,
3. ate food during movie,
4. wandered around the house looking for 'that something interesting' you always look for and never find,
5. then went to Ikea (my personal Disneyland).
The first four steps are standard protocol for "A Man's Day." Step five is what makes the rest bearable.

The Ikea trip was a total success! I had a good idea what I was looking for, and knew exactly where it was. After the grand tour of every inch of the showroom, I loaded up a cart with those beautiful flat-pack boxes. I always have to check out the As-Is section, no matter how dismal it usually looks in there. Glory of glories! I came across two shelving units exactly like the two I had already picked out in perfect condition at 31% off because they were retired display models. Total score! That's like free money and I didn't have to throw away the cardboard myself! I did miss out on putting it together though.

Another testament to it being a man's day is that I'm listening to rap music while writing a blog post at 12:30 at night. I'll probably find something else worthless to do while I'm not working on my the new website for the bike shop, then eat more Chinese. More than likely I'll move the furniture around again, just like every other time my wife is not around, before I go to bed.

Tomorrow will probably be about the same, but no Chinese.

Redundant to some

Hello everyone. I wrote a post I think SOME people will find interesting on our baby's blog. Read it here.

I'm getting into the blogging groove with all the different parts of my life. I'm building a number of new blogs for the very much anticipated (by me) new and improved website for the shop, I post fairly often to Elinor's blog, and now this one is new for Alicia and me. Perhaps you will find our lives somewhat interesting as you check in with us over the months and years to come.

The blog's clever name comes from my dad's explanation on how to pronounce "Rowberry, like a row of berries." Not robbery, not rau-berry, not roseberry, not rowen-berry. Just say it how it's written.

And what is a blog post without picture taken by my three-year-old niece? Enjoy!

Oh the joys of teaching

Sometimes I forget why I love to teach. OK, so a lot of times I forget. Especially when my students are running amok and not keeping their desks immaculate like my anal-ness needs. The other day I was sitting at my desk going through some papers while my students were working on their Christmas presents for their parents. I stopped and took a look around to see what they were doing. This is what I saw:

One student singing a crazy song. He was decorating his September page in his calendar and had substituted the words of a Veggie Tales song with "labor day." Then he started singing the real song (something about celery and broccoli). When he got to the last phrase, he turned to the student next to him and they both finished the song together, vibrato and all.

Three students speaking only in code about who knows what (and honestly, do I want to know what three seven-year-old boys are talking in code about? I think not...). If only I could describe their hilarious facial expressions accurately. You would have died laughing!

"Give me some of your tots, Napoleon!" One student started asking the other students if they had seen certain movies. Soon it turned into a quote fest. Hearing a seven year old quote Napoleon Dynamite is hilarious. Not just funny or amusing, but roll-on-the-floor-hilarious. I wish I would have written down the other movies they were quoting. The above quote is what stuck out most.

One group of girls proudly showing off their masterpieces. One girl shouted out: "What are you getting Elinor, Mrs. Rowberry?" It melts my heart when they ask about Elinor. They almost think of her as a sister. It's adorable.

I spent the rest of the day just watching my students. I didn't care if their desks were messy when they left (well, not too much anyway), or whether they had stacked the chairs or picked up the floor. I just smiled and realized that this is why I love teaching!

Our blog...

We have been making this blog for Elinor and realized we weren't doing anything for us. I know most of our life story right now is caught up in Elinor, but we do have things to say! So here is our own blog, and hopefully it will be worthwhile!